The Wall Street Journal reports that the well lacked a remote-control shut-off switch that is required by Brazil and Norway, two other major oil-producing nations.
…
Experts have said that the remote-control switch may have been able to shut off the Deepwater Horizon well, and critics of have said the lack of the remote control is a sign U.S. authorities have been too lax with the industry.

NWS forecast for oil spill spread in Gulf of Mexico as of May 3, 2010. Click on any of the pictures here to enlarge.

The worst-case scenario for the broken and leaking well gushing oil into the Gulf of Mexico would be the loss of the wellhead currently restricting the flow to 5,000 barrels — or 210,000 gallons per day.

If the wellhead is lost, oil could leave the well at a much greater rate, perhaps up to 150,000 barrels — or more than 6 million gallons per day — based on government data showing daily production at another deepwater Gulf well.

By comparison, the Exxon Valdez spill was 11 million gallons total. The Gulf spill could end up dumping the equivalent of 4 Exxon Valdez spills per week. (al.com)

And no one knows for certain how or when they can shut down the flow.

In this aerial photo taken in the Gulf of Mexico more than 50 miles southeast of Venice on Louisiana's tip, the Deepwater Horizon oil rig is seen burning Wednesday, April 21, 2010. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)

The [Deepwater Horizon] platform exploded on April 20 and sank two days later, leaving 11 workers missing and presumed dead, and producing one of the largest oil spills in history in U.S. water.

This image provided by the U.S. Coast Guard Saturday April 24, 2010 shows oil leaking from the drill pipe of the Deepwater Horizon drilling rig after it sank Thursday. (AP photo/US Coast Guard)

Kinks in the piping created as the rig sank to the seafloor may be all that is preventing the Deepwater Horizon well from releasing its maximum flow. BP is now drilling a relief well as the ultimate fix. The company said Thursday that process would take up to 3 months.

Diagram of what is going on beneath the oil slick

Sand is an integral part of the formations that hold oil under the Gulf. That sand, carried in the oil as it shoots through the piping, is blamed for the ongoing erosion described by BP.

“The pipe could disintegrate. You’ve got sand getting into the pipe, its eroding the pipe all the time, like a sandblaster,” said Ron Gouget, a former oil spill response coordinator for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

“When the oil is removed normally, it comes out at a controlled rate. You can still have abrasive particles in that. Well, now, at this well, its coming out at fairly high velocity,” Gouget continued. “Any erosive grains are abrading the inside of the pipe and all the steel that comes in contact with the liquid. It’s essentially sanding away the pipe.”

An April 25, 2010 satellite photo provided by NASA shows a portion of an oil slick in the Gulf of Mexico, with ships visible at bottom left. (AP Photo/via NASA)

The formation that was being drilled by the Deepwater Horizon when it exploded and sank last week is reported to have tens of millions of barrels of oil. A barrel contains 42 gallons.

“The loss of a wellhead, this is totally unprecedented,” said Gouget. “How bad it could get from that, you will have a tremendous volume of oil that is going to be offgassing on the coast. Depending on how much wind is there, and how those gases build up, that’s a significant health concern.” (al.com)

A publicly available Halliburton PowerPoint presentation from last November might tell us a lot about what could have caused the oil blowout, fire and massive oil gushing at the Horizon rig.

Suppose you’re that division of Halliburton that has the dangerous job of “cementing” the drilling hole and the gaps between the hole and pipe. You’ve done this lots of times in shallow water wells, but you’ve learned through previous experience in deep water there’s a particularly difficult problem having to do with the presence of gas that has seeped to the ocean floor and been captured in essentially “frozen” crystallized formations.

The problem is that when you drill into these formations, and then try to inject cement into the hole/gaps to prevent leakage, the curing process for that creates heat. That heat can, if not controlled, cause the gas to escape the frozen crystals. If a lot of gas is released all at once, as could happen during the cement/curing process, it can cause a blowout where the cementing is occurring, or force gas and/or oil up the pipeline to the drilling rig on the surface. And the heat created by the process may be just enough to ignite the gas, causing the explosion and fire.

Did this happen at the Horizon rig? And if Halliburton already knew about this problem months (years) ago, and knew the risks it might create, why are we just now learning about this?

• Shallow water flow may occur during or after cement job
• Under water blow out has happened
• Gas flow may occur after a cement job in deepwater environments that contain major hydrate zones.
• Destabilization of hydrates after the cement job is confirmed by downhole cameras.
• The gas flow could slow down in hours to days if the de- stabilization is not severe.
• However, the consequences could be more severe in worse cases.

Page 13 lists the design objectives but then concedes they can’t all be met at once:

Deepwater Well Objectives
• Cement slurry should be placed in the entire annulus with no losses
• Temperature increase during slurry hydration should not destabilize hydrates
• There should be no influx of shallow water or gas into the annulus
• The cement slurry should develop strength in the shortest time after placementConditions in deepwater wells are not
conducive to achieving all of these
objectives simultaneously

The presentation goes on to explain various options for dealing with the risks and assess the relative merits and costs. What’s interesting is that Halliburton appears to have been working at the edge of the technology and was not certain what would happen. Most experience was in shallower waters and no one was certain what would happen in deep waters. It conducted tests, but it’s not clear how complete or realistic those tests were or how costs factored into the choice of techniques. (FDL Scarecrow)

Those negotiating deep water drilling contracts in Africa should take this to heart. One thing that should be possible is that a remote shut off should be a requirement in any deepwater drilling contract, though I’m not holding my breath. You cannot depend on the oil companies to police themselves, or even to make realistic assessments of the dangers and potential costs, particularly if they are not likely to pay much of those costs. We have the Niger Delta to remind us just how civic minded the oil companies can be, and how well leadership has stood up for the governed in dealing with the oil companies. The US has unleashed this monster upon itself because it has confused the corporate predator state with democracy, and governs more despite the people than for the people.

________

See more amazing photos from the Boston Globe, including the photos posted here.

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6 Responses to “Deep Water Drilling – What Can Go Wrong?”

This is an excellent post, which I’m linking to my blog http://pipelinedreams.wordpress.com What’s happening in the Gulf of Mexico now is a cautionary tale for Africa. Angola, Nigeria, Equatorial Guinea, Ghana… deepwater drilling is happening or on the horizon in a number of countries. Despite the massive efforts of the companies and state and federal authorities, the situation is spinning out of control. The thought of a similar accident occurring off the coast of West or Central Africa is terrifying.

ILOOK OUT MY BACK DOOR EVERY DAY the mountain tops have been clear cut , my spelling is not god because in do things . but this oil spill chews at me . ” I am not a fire bug. BUT i burn wood and cook with it
the way i feel about you have to fight fire with fire. THE boat owners i use to know when there boat were to old to work would strip the goods off then and then burn then. .FALL OUT OF THIS SPILL IS . THE TOY GAME . THE VIEW YOU LOOK FOR CAN ONLY COME FROM A TOY UN MAN SUB. So this you may not see unless you have one or own one thin it cannot happen. not to be a dumb scuba diver but that my be the fax. . the wind will fan the fires on the water of now . at least it not a plan flat lander fire

I would like to know how much oil is calculated to be down there. Since it is easier to work on the moon than a mile underwater the well head will likely fail.
The “containment dome” looked interesting, but someone needs to write 2% milk on the side before they send her down or I don’t think it will work.

Accidents do not simply happen.They are caused. Caused that can be determined from where corrective actions must result.

When a series of accidental events as this, chain together, people ultimately end up getting seriously i.e. ‘fatally’ hurt. It is the underlying ‘accidents’ that must be addressed to assure the workforce are maintianed more inherently safe.

The oil industry has suffered at the hands of inadequate mangement standards, control or simply non compliance to these for the last 15years perhaps.

Major rganisations also do not today always have the hands on knowledge and experience required. People do, and in an industry that is now more full of consultants, it is they move on with the lesson learned.

Management and the regulators who allow this to happen have therefore a lot to stand up and be accountable to.